


This I Know For Certain

by rashaka



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Devotion, F/M, Feelings, Friendship/Love, Legal Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 18:23:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1867812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rashaka/pseuds/rashaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Whisper a dangerous secret to someone you care about. Now they have the power to destroy you, but they won’t. This is what love is."  - WTNV</p>
            </blockquote>





	This I Know For Certain

**Author's Note:**

> For the Olicity Hiatus Project, session 1, from a Nightvale prompt.

She’s elbow-deep in remotely updating the firewall of Oliver’s primary work portal when he strides over and drops a thin, manila folder on the only open corner of her desk.

"What’s that?" Felicity asks, voice muffled from the pen between her teeth.

She doesn’t look up from her monitor; this is NATO-level cyber protection she’s dropping on them, and it demands focus.  After Oliver’s company was infiltrated, sabotaged, and stolen out from beneath him, Felicity decided that her first mission on regaining Queen Consolidated would be to take threats of corporate espionage off the table.  Aggressively.  Three weeks back in the system and she’s finally got the groundwork established, moving onto upper management protections.  Not only does the company have its own tech staff protecting it, but Felicity’s laid down a hidden net beneath the official safeguards, which she alone controls.   
  
"I’m calling it Shelob," Felicity told John proudly the week before.  "It’s going to be the biggest, scariest spider web that no one knows about, but it’s _so_ wicked.  QC employees from janitors to project managers won’t be able to fart in a boardroom without us knowing about it."  
  
"Sounds illegal," he said.  When Felicity sheepishly bragged, "It’s so bad ass it might get me more prison time than the vigilante," her teammate laughed and offered a fistbump.  
  
Oliver knew she’d be busy this morning, so when Felicity sees him approach in her peripheral vision she doesn’t give him much thought.  It’s probably another HR form, they’ve been riddled with paperwork since the last CEO was murdered and exposed as a terrorist, only to have Oliver spend three months in court getting his controlling shares reinstated at their original value.  
  
"No hurry," Oliver says, and she hears the relaxed smile in his voice.  He’s been in a good place all morning, bringing her coffee and actually putting work time in.  "Just something quick for you to read over before lunch."  
  
Felicity finally glances up from her monitor, takes the pen out of her mouth, and grins at him.  ”Sure. What are we doing for lunch, anyway?”  
  
"Let’s live dangerously.  Pizza?"  
  
"Wow, you  _are_  in good mood.”  
  
Oliver’s eyes travel across her face, and his expression gets this soft, warm cast that always stirs the butterflies in her stomach.  ”It’s nice to back where we belong.”  
  
"Yeah," agrees Felicity, ducking her head away from his gaze and smiling to herself.  "It is."  
  
It’s two hours before she gets a look at the manila folder, but when she flips it open and starts reading, Felicity’s jaw nearly comes unhinged.  Within are twelve sheets of pristine company paper, dated and notarized a week ago.  Her fingers tremble as she flips through each page, the air sucked right out of her lungs.   
  
  
 _—Agent shall have full power and authority—  
  
—conduct any business with any banking or financial institution, including but not limited to federal—  
  
—access to any safe deposit box I own—  
  
—enter into binding contracts on my behalf—_  
  
  
By the ninth sheet, she’s not sure if she wants to cry or run screaming out of the office.  
  
  
 _—the Agent will preside over medical judgements with regard to the Principal—_  
  
  
When she reads the final page, Felicity closes the folder and sits back in her chair, holding it against her chest.  It takes a full eight minutes before she has the will to stand and make her way over to the boardroom.  She pushes one side of the heavy wood doors open and heads right for Oliver, currently in the middle of a debate about lay-offs.  She drops the folder in front of her ‘boss’, and crosses her arms.  
  
He looks up at the stormcloud that is Felicity Smoak, and then casts his eyes around the boardroom.  ”Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, but I need the room.  We’ll continue this tomorrow morning.”  
  
Two minutes later they’ve all filed out in neat little lines, and Felicity lowers into the corner seat adjacent to Oliver’s.  She swivels her chair to face him and folds her hands in her lap.  ”Oliver.”  
  
He gives a neutral reply:  ”Felicity.”  
  
"What is this?"  If he wants to be chill about this, she can keep her voice calm too.   
  
"This?" he slides his finger under the cover sheet, glances at the notary stamp, and winks.  "Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while."  
  
"That paragraph at the top says it’s proof of durable and medical power of attorney."  
  
"Does it?  When Natalia and Charles signed it, I told them it was to requisition a new expresso machine."  
  
Felicity’s never been good at these games, and her cool breaks at the deliberate mention of a coffee maker.  
  
"Oliver!  You  _can’t_  give me this.  What am I supposed to do with this?”  
  
He shrugs.  ”Whatever you have to, Felicity.  The document is yours for a rainy day.  I recommend locking it in a good safe, but I’ll leave that up to your discretion.”  
  
She bites her lip, and looks at the wall before dragging her eyes back to Oliver.  When she speaks again, it’s a nearly broken whisper.  ”Are you leaving again?  Is that what this is?”  
  
"No," he says, standing up from his chair and moving directly before her and dropping to a crouch.  Oliver balances on the balls of his feet as he takes her hands in his, gaze soft.  Felicity stares down at their fingers linked together in her lap, then at him.  
  
"Please, Oliver," she says.  "What are you asking from me?"  
  
"I’m not the greatest judge of character," he begins, "And I’ve made too many mistakes this year.  But I’ve realized something—you helped me realize it.  You and Dig.  I can’t do everything alone, and I don’t want to.  But with the work that we do, I won’t always be able to defend myself when I need to.  My mother’s gone, Thea’s out of reach, and as great as Walter is, he doesn’t know who I really am."  
  
With a deep breath, Oliver leans his forehead against Felicity’s knee. The desire to speak wars with her longing to hear what he says next, and the longing wins.  
  
"The truth is, Felicity, you know more about me than anyone in my life right now.  You already have access to all my money _—_ this just protects you by making it legal.  I don’t have any plans to go away or get hurt, but if something happens to me, you’re the only person I trust to make the right choice.  Dig has a family, and he doesn’t know the business side like you do.  I know it’s a lot to ask, but please…”   
  
Oliver takes another deep breath and meets her eyes. His next words are a quiet, desperate whisper: “Please, Felicity let me trust you with this.”  
  
Tears threaten at the edge of her eyes and her voice chokes up.  ”This is too much, Oliver.  I don’t want it, not if it means you think you can just die at any time and I’ll take care of everything.  I won’t give you an easy out.”  
  
"Hey, hey…" he says, standing and tugging Felicity up with him into a hug.  He tucks his head against the top of hers, arms around her back.  "I’m not going anywhere, Felicity.  I swear, that’s not what this is about.  After what Slade did to us, I know how close I came to losing everything.  I’m never going to willingly give up like that again.  But I’m trying to be more responsible, and that means making sure that the right people have the power they need to make the right choices.  I want you to have my back, for real."  
  
Against his shoulder, Felicity hiccupps away her sniffle.  She can feel his hands making small circles on her back, and she tucks closer into the safety of Oliver’s embrace.  

"The last time you signed a paper like this, the woman you gave it to almost destroyed your life.  So how do you know I’m the right people?"

"You’re Felicity Smoak," he replies, and presses a kiss to the top of her head. "You’re always right." 


End file.
